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CONTEMPORARY/CROSS- CUTTING ISSUES IN TANZANIA

1. GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT
(a) Basic concept related to gender
Gender refers to a social cultural relationship between men and women on basis of their functions, roles behavior and social cultural attributes practiced. Discussing issues found in gender and development area. There is a need of illustrating the social systems found and lived by the societies first as:
Gender concept terms.
a) Sex: Is the biological difference between men and women on basis of their biological make up function in reproduction and nature of their behavior. This difference then brings to two sex types as male and female sex.

b) Gender: is the social cultural relationship between men and women on their differences in roles, function and attributes shown between them.
NB: The difference between gender and sex is on the fact that sex is the biological difference between men and women while gender is the social cultural relationship in their difference.
This social cultural give difference to two gender type as;
Masculine Gender – Standing for male sex and
Feminine gender – standing for female sex
c) Gender discrimination: Is the situation in which one kind of sex is denied its rights and opportunities in the society just because of its being in that category.
d) Gender stereotype: Is the assigning of roles, tasks and responsibilities to a particular gender on the basis of interests.
e) Gender oppression is the situation where by one gender type is suppressed by another gender because of its being of that gender. It includes harsh treatment of one sex group e.g suppressing women’s rights, burning of women’s say etc.
f) Gender gap: Is a social economic and political difference in status, level of development or advancement between men and women. An experience shows that men are of higher status than women.
g) Gender inequality: Is the situation where by there is unequal treatment of gender such that one group is given more Prentice than the other.
h) Gender bias: Is the positive or negative of attitude or practice of gender issues towards men and women e.g. Considering women inferior in front of men etc.
i) Gender sensitivity: Is the situation of being aware of different in role performed by women and men and the needs to be planned and obtained by the two gender.
j) Gender analysis. is a type of sociol economic analysis that uncovers how gender relations affect a development problem.
k) Gender equity: Is the fairness and justice treatment balance the recognition of both men and women potential e.g. emphasizing balanced diet to both men and women
l) Gender focus: Is the addressing of specific gender need determined by a specific gender. It is demonstration of gender sensitivity on the needs and privileges that men and women should get in society.
m) Gender balance: Is the situation where by men and women or male and female live their opportunity rights and needs equally.
  1. It can be however generalized gender inequality in society is mainly seen to be caused by nomination of patriarchal system and its important to know that whenever and wherever this gender relation exist it is women who are affected specifically is all aspect of life.
1 PATRIARCHAL AND MATRIARCHAL SYSTEM
a) Patriarchal system is a social political system which is organized and run by men, in this system a father is given the power and authority to Control the Community starting from family which is the primary Unit of a society. The patriarchal system allows men to exercise power, authority and hold higher position of leadership in the society excluding women.

The word patriarchy is from two Greek words ‘Pater’ that means “father” and ‘achy’ means to rule. The patriarchy system is originally linked to various historical sources of data such as Theology verses(God created Adam first then later Eve) such supporting data give strength over the existence and practice of patriarchal system in all societies of the world. Example of the manifestation of this, Men hold most high social political and economic position in states, government and other organizations. The patriarchal system has therefore brought to var
ious gender issues, such as gender discrimination. Gender discrimination, gender inequality, uneven division of work and share gap etc.
CHARACTERISTICS OF PATRIARCHAL SYSTEM
  1. In a family a father holds all power over women and children.
  2. Women are subordinates to mean’s rule (i.e. they are dependent to men).
  3. Power is held by and passed down through male elder.
  4. Marriage is based on property ownership ( i.e. men are the subject of paying bride price).
  5. Oppression of female gender.
  6. Execution of women from authority and power over the community.
  7. In marriage women always move to their husbands family empires.
  8. Men are considered to have central authority to all organizations.
  9. Marriage to women is a social bound issue i.e. it is planned under man’s final decisions.
  10. Men are given privileges of power in directing and controlling all issues in the society.
How the patriarchal system in Tanzania influence gender relations
Patriarchal system is a system where men are dominant and women are subordinate, men are considered to have power, ownership and control over things of value while women are considered powerless and have no or fewer ownership.
In Tanzania patriarchy has been a major cultural heritage that influences the development of gender inequality in many tribes. This has been directly or indirectly practiced in different institutions in the socialization process. These institutions include the following:
  1. The family Level
As the first socialization agent it has some negative upbringing practice which has undesirable results against gender equality in the following ways:-
(i) Under patriarchal systems, girls and boys in Tanzania grow up in households and communities that treat them differently and unequally where boys are taught to learn that they have greater social value because they are permanent members of their families of birth.
(ii) The use of offensive language against female in front of children. This makes boys feel that they are superior to girls from childhood.
(iii) Division of labor. At the family level a girl child is accorded heavier and time consuming work load compared to that of boys. For instance fetching water, cooking, washing clothes taking care of babies at home are said to be quite of a girl not a boy.
(vi) Female beatings and harassment during marital conflict. Boys are trained to be aggressive and muscular with reasonable tolerance while girls are always told to have tolerance for their emotional expressiveness.
(v) Toys for children. The notion that men are stronger than women is presented in child cartoons via mass media. A child is learning how to act through observing what message is being presented through the mass media. For example, a doll for a girl and a toy gun for a boy.
(vi) Education to boys rather than girls. Many parents are reluctant to send their daughters to school while preference is given to boys.
(vii) Males have more access to control of resources and decision making while females have no right impedance of property in patriarchal families.
(viii) Females are denied access to information technology, time to relax and socialize


2. The community Level
There are traditional norms, values, beliefs and practices that lead to gender inequality. They include the following:

(i) Initiation ceremonies: These are carried out in some societies where by girls are insisted to be submissive to men. Hence, girls who have undergone initiation become passive in schools and this leads to poor academic performance.

(ii) Women have no right to inheritance of property of their parents or husbands.

(iii) Women are not supposed to eat certain types of food when they are pregnant. In some societies, for instance, not allowed to eat mutton, eggs etc. This weakens their reproductive health and affects the health of both a woman and the baby to be born as they lack nutritious food.

(iv) A girl has no right to choose her fiance. In some societies, it is the parents who decide who is to be a husband of their daughter regardless of her consent.

(V) Bride price/ dowry payment. This enslaves women and they turn out to be like a commodity bought or exchanged with another commodity. This makes their husbands to mistreat them as they think that they bought them.
(vi) Stereotyping: Stereotypes are over –generalized beliefs about people based on their membership in one of many social categories.
  • Men are perceived as aggressive, cooperative and financial and providers while women are viewed as passive, cooperative and caretakers.
  • Women are not regarded as important in big decisions of the community
(vii) Laws and regulations: Women are only the rulers of domestic life. For example, cooking, fetching water, caring for children.

III. Institutional Level

1. Religious Institutions
(i) Some religious doctrines emphasize on submissiveness of women to men. For example, in Islam there is provision which states that “Men are guardians over women because Allah has made them to overstay. So a virtuous woman is one who is obedient………….. “(Quran 4:34) Also some people quote the Bible that God said to a woman “I will greatly multiply your pain in child bearing in pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you” (Gen 3:16)
(ii) Women are denied of high leadership positions in churches or mosques. These positions are only reserved for men.
2. The school institutions
(i) The literature used in schools portray the role of women negatively For example women are portrayed as sexual objects.
(ii) Sexual harassment is serious to girls from male teachers. Teachers expect girls to fail while boys are considered to be brilliant. Hence, girls are not encouraged to do better than boys.
3. The state institution
(i) There are poor government policies on women whereby most leadership positions are dominated by men while having lower percentage of women leaders.
(ii) Equal opportunities emphasized in legislation are not being often enforced.
(iii) Some customary laws are retrogressive and most of the judicial laws are customary law.
(iv) Confining women in private sphere.

MATRIARCHY SYSTEM
Matriarchy system is the system in the society where by females, especially mother have the central role of all social political issues of the community. In this system a mother is said to have power to control and run the family however being dominant even in community issues. The societies with such a system are also termed as gynocentric society. Generally matriarchy system can be defined as the social political formation in which women occupies the ruling power and position in the family which is the primary cell of the society.

CHARACTERISTICS/ FEATURES OF MATRIARCHY SYSTEM
  1. Women direct all social political and cultural issues of the community.
  2. The mother is the head of the family and all descendants.
  3. There is equity in division of roles, duties and share.
  4. A woman is likely to rule the state.
  5. Existence of woman power and say in the society.
  6. Popularity of female title and names in social issue.
  7. Consideration of women as important figures in the society.

Impact of gender discrimination on social and economic development
Gender inequality has a great impact especially on women and poverty. Men have more opportunities to have an income, have more political and social rights than women. Women experience more poverty than men due to gender discrimination.
Following below are the impact/effects of gender discrimination on social and economic development
  1. The inability of some mothers to meet the financial needs of their families. This has had an impact on the level of post natal care and thus on health of their children. For example, it has been researched and found that some mothers do not attend clinics if they perceive that their children’s clothes are un-presentable.
  1. Increase of maternal mortality rate: These have been an increase in maternal mortality rate. It is regarded as a key indicator of women’s unequal access to health care. Causes are attributed to abortion, toxemia in pregnancy, pre-eclampsia, post hemorrhage: sepsis during child birth and ruptured uterus due to early marriages among girls.
  1. Humiliation and exploitation of women due to rape, forced prostitution, kidnapping of girls and trafficking of women for sexual business.
  1. Poor health to women due to, for instance, bearing many children and being over worked by productive roles, reproductive roles and community roles
  1. Disability and incapacitation of woman due to domestic violence. Some form physical violence from the husbands or male partners may range from the pushing and slapping to battering and maiming.
  1. Poor diet due to forbidding women to eat certain types of nutritious food such as mutton, eggs, etc.
  1. Poverty and misery. This happens due to denial of property ownership such as land inheritance and property inheritance, etc
  1. Lack of financial support: Most women do not qualify to get bank loans for running economic activities since they lack collateral security as they do not have access to property ownership.
  1. Killing of female babies at birth or female infanticide due to son preference.
  2. Old age abandonment or neglect due to lack of children or lack of support.

Affirmative actions towards balance gender relations (Gender mainstreaming)
Affirmative actions refer to steps taken to address gender issues in all development projects and programmes by distributing duties and responsibilities involving both sexes. Tanzania has, since independence, taken measures with a view of realizing equality between women and men by ensuring access to, and equal opportunities in political and public life including the right to vote and to stand for elections as well as the right to education, health and employment. The following are specific affirmative actions taken to balance gender relations:
(i) Lowering admission cut-off points for female: cut off points for females to be admitted at the upper secondary and higher education have been lowered. For Example, in Tanzania female candidates who have attained the minimum required grades to enter public universities are allowed.
(ii) Introduction of pre-entry programmes to female students: This was introduced in 1997 in Tanzania to address the relatively small number of female students and academic staff in the faculty of sciences at the University of Dar es Salaam. Currently, six weeks remedial or pre-entry programme benefits candidates with science background.
(iii) Gender equal interventions on Employment: There have been measures to bring about equal opportunities in employment. This has been done through development and establishment of equal employment opportunity office and putting in place the legal stipulations which strongly discourage discrimination in the Tanzania Employment and Labour Relations Act No. 6 and Labour Institutions Act No.7 of 2004.
(iv) Female scholarships and other forms of financial assistance: At the higher education level, there are various women only scholarship programmes from government and non-government sources. For example, the Carnegie Corporations through full cost scholarship programs for girls give support to Tanzania girls enrolled in undergraduate course.
(v) Enacting strict laws against negative cultural practices such as female genital mutilation: For example in 1998, the government passed the “sexual Offences Special Provision Act (SOSPA) to address fun Gender-based violation of which female genital mutilation to girls below 10 years was made illegal.
(vi) Placing women in positions of responsibility and influence so as to make them demonstrate their capabilities: for example: constitutional amendment of April 2000 allowed the president of the United Republic of Tanzania to nominate up to ten members of parliament and increased the number of special seats for women from 15% to 20% depending on the allocation made by the National Electoral Commission from time to time.
(vii) Allowing women to inherit property: For example, Land Act No.4 and the village Land Act No.5 of 1999 and the Amendment to the Land Act in 2004 improved women’s accessibility to land. Sections 3(2) and 23(2) of the village Land Act provided for the right of women to be allocated land and impose a duty on the village council to ensure maximum protection of their rights.
(viii) Setting gender specific policies. For example, Women and Gender Development Policy of 2000.
(ix) Enactment of laws against gender discrimination: For example, following the recent development in 13th Constitutional Amendment (2000) gender discrimination nation was made to be a gender issue. Moreover, affirmative action has continued to be taken to ensure increase of women in representative bodies [the parliament and local government council] which at the moment has already reached 30%
1. HIV/AIDS
Pandemic disease refers to a rapidly spreading disease affecting many people in a certain place resulting from a certain abnormal circumstance.
HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
The HIV disease is deviation of the body from its normal immunity condition, HIV is an acronym of the (human immune deficiency virus).
These viruses are mostly blooded transmitted or transmitted in fluid condition, thus do attack the helper cells of the body immunity system, so causing weakness of the body immunity which gives to the incurable AIDS as a disease.
FACTORS LEADING TO SPREADING OF HIV

These factors are much socio cultural connected
  1. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
  2. Raping.
  3. Blood transfusion.
  4. Polygamy.
  5. Inheritance of widow/spouse.
  6. Sharing of sharp tools like needles razor blades etc.
  7. During the child birth in breast feeding.
  8. Unprotected sexual intercourse.
  9. Early marriage or forced marriage.
SYMPTOMS AND SIGNS OF HIV/AIDS
Early infection of HIV/AIDS often produces no signs or symptoms it can take a year before HIV weakens the immune system whereby the following symptoms can be observed.
  1. Dry /coughing and short breathing.
  2. Red/brown/purplish color inside mouth or nose or eyes.
  3. Mental illness such as loss of memory often forgetfulness and neurological disorder.
  4. Several headache.
  5. Swollen lymph glands.
  6. Rapid loss of weight.
  7. A kind of skin cancer diseases.
  8. Pneumonia.
  9. Persistent and severe diarrhea.
  10. Sever and persistent fever.
  11. Lack of coordination in nerve and several painful in swallow.
  12. Wide spots on tongue mouth and throat.
NB
Do not rely on this sign to establish diagnosis of AIDS symptoms might also be similar to those of other diseases and illness of a person
EFFECTS OF AIDS PANDEMIC
  1. Loss of life expectancy.
  2. Loss of man power.
  3. Increase of orphans.
  4. Acceleration of poverty rate.
  5. Increase in government expenditure.
  6. Increase of miseries and sufferings.
  7. It stagnates economic.
  8. Leads to family separation.
  9. Exit of generation.
STRATEGIES IN PLACE THE COMMUNITY TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS PANDEMIC
Government of different states have taken some steps of fighting against HIV/AIDS pandemic as the ways or measures against its spreads and effect. The following are some of ways;
i) Provision of education to people on how AIDS is spread and effect to the society at large.
ii) Provision and supply of preventive medication and materials worldwide e.g. the use of condoms or supply of condoms medication.
iii) Implementation of the policy of caring of AIDS victims.
iv) Establishment of NGOs dealing with HIV/AIDS precautions and prevents e.g. USAIDS, TACAIDS.
Role of the individuals in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS
1. To avoid promiscuous sexual intercourse especially with high risk people like prostitutes, commercial sex workers and people with multiple sexual partners. For sexually active people it is important to practice protected sex such as use of condoms.

2. To abstain from sexual intercourse before marriage. After marriage the couples should be faithful to each other
3. To avoid transfusion of unscreened blood for HIV. This should also include avoiding contact with human blood from other people in situations of injuries and accidents.
4. To avoid sharing surgical and piercing instruments such as injection needles, air piercing equipment, and cutting blades. Any piercing or surgical
cutting instrument should be property be sterilized.
5. To avoid drunkenness and other from of drug abuse that espouse someone to situation of irresponsible sexual intercour
se making one vulnerable to infection with HIV
6. To have regular medical check-up in counseling and voluntary testing centers for HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. This enables a person to know his or her status so as to take precautions not to be infected, re-infected or infecting others.
7. For pregnant women, it is important to test for HIV/AIDS so as to avoid, transmitting the virus to the fetus or the baby after birth.
8. To abandon bad cultural practices like female genital mutilation, forced marriage, polygamy, etc
9. To avoid the misuse of development in technology. For example, the use of internet and other technological devices for watching pornographic pictures.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Environment is the natural surroundings of an organism which directly or indirect influence its growth and development.
These refer to complex or intricate matters concerning environment which is directly to man’s life or are critical matter occurring in the environment and seen affecting human being. This issue can be put into two categorized.
(i) Natural environment issue. This occurs naturally from the influence of nature
(ii) Artificial environment issue.
The natural environment issue are caused by nature of climate and difference force within the earth e.g. Earth quake, volcanism, Flooding, Hurricane, faulting activities are like tsunamis. The main caused issue being by human activities are like desertification, Global warming, environment pollution and some of influence disease.
COMPONENTS OF ENVIRONMENT
Environmental components can be grouped into two areas which are BIOTIC and ABIOTIC in the sense that biotic area discusses all living things like animals, plants (flora) and (fauna) and micro organism. While abiotic stand to all non livingthings like Air (atmosphere, hydrosphere etc) water bodies, soil rocks, landforms.
Importance of Environment to man
(i) Environment is only home of all organism ( life supporter function).
(ii) It is resourceful site for all man needs (the resources provide function) all materials for life are obtained on earth environment.
(iii) Is the home of duties and activities (Productive function) environment support or kind of activities such as transportation, Agricultural activities etc.
Relationship of between development and environment
1. Resources from the environment provide livelihood and play different roles in different economic sectors like agriculture, mining, tourism, etc
2. Environment provides construction materials fuel woods medic, water and food.
3. Environment provides resources for human development land, minerals, forest, water
4. Development converts the environment into further usable forms. These forms alter and limit further opportunities for future development. In the process of development social, economic changes facing the human capacity of the environment to call the challenges are taken into consideration.

Rationale for studying the environmental issues.
The study of environmental issues is very important to impact to the individual the cross-cutting issue education with the intention of reducing the rate of destruction and increased rate of conservation. This is made through:

i. Getting a profound understanding of the sources nature and scale of the problems related to the environment so that it can be easy to devise some measures towards addressing these problems.

ii. Increasing awareness to people on rapid alarming and dramatic rate of the environmental degradation, man should not stay ignorant of these issues lest the problems results to the total extermination of human existence

iii. Encouraging man to use the resources so judiciously or in the rational way by relating the use of those resources and the effects that kind of use to the environment. This helps in insuring that resources are used with minimum possibility of jeopardizing the chance of existence of the future generation

iv. Uniting people from different parts in the world to consider the protection of the environment is global and collective compaign in order to ensure free risky living of living organisms, particularly man.

Environmental issues and some solutions

According to Wikipedia free encyclopedia, the signs and symptoms of drug abuse depending on the actually comport, drug misuse including alcohol may lead to health and social problems, morbidity injuries, unprotected sex, violence, deaths, motor vehicle accidents, homicides, suicides, mortality, physical dependable or psychological addition. Drug abusers are usually alcoholic and prone to suicide. The reason believed to cause the increased risk of suicide is the long term abuse of alcohol and drugs, causing physiological distortion of the brain chemistry, as well as the social solution .Moreover, the acute intoxication effects of the drug may make suicide more likely to occur. Suicide is also very common to adolescent alcohol abuse. Suicide in adolescent is also related to alcohol. Abuse is as also associated with increasing risk of committing criminal offences, including child abuse, domestic violence, rapes, burglaries and assaults.




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